- Joined
- Apr 10, 2014
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Hi everyone.
Somebody requested that I share my experience with my kitten's heart issues. I would love to hear from anyone else who has a kitty like mine and how they are dealing with it.
Luna my 7 month old DMH kitten was diagnosed with a moderate to severe ventricular septal defect. This occurs in humans too and is basically a hole in the heart. It is congenital. It was picked up when we went to get her desexed. The vet was hesitatant to do it anyway because she was so small and then when she heard her heart it was a definite no!
Heart murmurs are graded 1-6 I believe and many kitten's have murmurs in their infancy that later disappear. Lunas was a 5/6 murmur which is quite severe.
A loud heart murmur of this grade usually indicates some kind of congenital heart issue but it's not always bad news.
The initial vet just told me she probably won't live as long and told me to just give her a good life.
This was a little open-ended and I wanted to see if there was anything else I could do. Luckily a good friend of mine is a 5th year vet student and advised me to see and vetinary cardiologist - a vet specialising in conditions of the heart.
I am so glad he gave me this advice because seeing the cardiology vet was so worth it! Living in a rural but large town with none of these services, Luna and I flew back to my old home 4 hours away. I was terrifled about her getting ill on the the plane but she was fine!
So we finally had our appointment when Luna was about 16 weeks old. The vet was so great. He did a cardiac ultrasound which is really the only was to definitively figure out what was structurely wrong. Luna had a moderase to severe ventricular septal defect which is a hole in the heart. Other common congenital heart issues include patent ductus arteriosis, malformation of the heart valves and even tetralogy of fallot!
So the ultrasound revealed a VSD. The vet explained that some kitten's that present with high grade murmurs can have small holes in the heart with the a lot of pressure (hence the loud murmur) and will often live normal healthy lives. Unfortunately Lunas was quite large and the life expectancy is about 2-6 years. Certainly not beyond 10 years.
These cats eventually go into congestive heart failure and are put down when their quality of life becomes poor. A more specific life expectancy can be determined once heart failure begins.. confirmed by thoracic xrays.
I was obviously very upset for a long time and it's hard because right now, Luna is quite healthy and playful - just like a normal kitten. Only noticeable thing at the moment is her high respiratory rate. The reassuring thing that the vet said is that it is not a painful condition.
The other great thing about this consult was that we got medication (not prescribed by general practice vets) to help prolong her life and improve what was happening internally. At the moment we give her an amlodipine suspension with other medications to be added on later.
Potentially getting these extra years with Luna was worth all the money spent. Knowing what the problem actually was was helpful. It's expensive but I would highly recommend seeing a specialist.
In Australia I pai about $480 all up.. most of it was the cost off the ultrasound. Not counting the hundreds involved in flying us down..
She is going well now. We had a bloody diarrhea issue with her for ages whicheck eventually got diagnosed finally as Chlostridium Perfringens. She is on fiber supplements and ID sensitive bowel dry food with raw chicken necks etc.
Hope this may have been illuminating for some and not too boring. Feel free to PM me if you like .
Somebody requested that I share my experience with my kitten's heart issues. I would love to hear from anyone else who has a kitty like mine and how they are dealing with it.
Luna my 7 month old DMH kitten was diagnosed with a moderate to severe ventricular septal defect. This occurs in humans too and is basically a hole in the heart. It is congenital. It was picked up when we went to get her desexed. The vet was hesitatant to do it anyway because she was so small and then when she heard her heart it was a definite no!
Heart murmurs are graded 1-6 I believe and many kitten's have murmurs in their infancy that later disappear. Lunas was a 5/6 murmur which is quite severe.
A loud heart murmur of this grade usually indicates some kind of congenital heart issue but it's not always bad news.
The initial vet just told me she probably won't live as long and told me to just give her a good life.
This was a little open-ended and I wanted to see if there was anything else I could do. Luckily a good friend of mine is a 5th year vet student and advised me to see and vetinary cardiologist - a vet specialising in conditions of the heart.
I am so glad he gave me this advice because seeing the cardiology vet was so worth it! Living in a rural but large town with none of these services, Luna and I flew back to my old home 4 hours away. I was terrifled about her getting ill on the the plane but she was fine!
So we finally had our appointment when Luna was about 16 weeks old. The vet was so great. He did a cardiac ultrasound which is really the only was to definitively figure out what was structurely wrong. Luna had a moderase to severe ventricular septal defect which is a hole in the heart. Other common congenital heart issues include patent ductus arteriosis, malformation of the heart valves and even tetralogy of fallot!
So the ultrasound revealed a VSD. The vet explained that some kitten's that present with high grade murmurs can have small holes in the heart with the a lot of pressure (hence the loud murmur) and will often live normal healthy lives. Unfortunately Lunas was quite large and the life expectancy is about 2-6 years. Certainly not beyond 10 years.
These cats eventually go into congestive heart failure and are put down when their quality of life becomes poor. A more specific life expectancy can be determined once heart failure begins.. confirmed by thoracic xrays.
I was obviously very upset for a long time and it's hard because right now, Luna is quite healthy and playful - just like a normal kitten. Only noticeable thing at the moment is her high respiratory rate. The reassuring thing that the vet said is that it is not a painful condition.
The other great thing about this consult was that we got medication (not prescribed by general practice vets) to help prolong her life and improve what was happening internally. At the moment we give her an amlodipine suspension with other medications to be added on later.
Potentially getting these extra years with Luna was worth all the money spent. Knowing what the problem actually was was helpful. It's expensive but I would highly recommend seeing a specialist.
In Australia I pai about $480 all up.. most of it was the cost off the ultrasound. Not counting the hundreds involved in flying us down..
She is going well now. We had a bloody diarrhea issue with her for ages whicheck eventually got diagnosed finally as Chlostridium Perfringens. She is on fiber supplements and ID sensitive bowel dry food with raw chicken necks etc.
Hope this may have been illuminating for some and not too boring. Feel free to PM me if you like .